1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to pari-mutuel wagering and, more particularly, to methods of conducting such wagering activities including, for example, methods and systems for accepting and pricing pari-mutuel wagers.
2. State of the Art
Pari-mutuel wagering essentially includes the placing of wagers by a plurality of individuals on the outcome of an event, wherein the bettors who place “winning” wagers share the betting pool minus a percentage taken out for the management or administration of the wagering activity. For example, pari-mutuel wagering is often associated with racing (e.g., horses or dogs) wherein individuals may place wagers on one or more aspects of the outcome of the race. These aspects may include, for example, which of the participants (also referred to herein as runners) will win the race, the order in which a plurality of runners will finish the race (e.g., exacta—ordered prediction of first and second place; trifecta—ordered prediction of first, second and third place; superfecta—ordered prediction of first through fourth place; etc.), or a runner finishing within a specified range of positions (e.g., a “show” wager for a given runner to finish in either first, second or third place; or a quinella wager for predicting the first and second place finishers regardless of order).
For those individuals who have placed a winning wager such that their prediction matches an actual event outcome, their payout is determined, in part, by the difficulty of the wager (e.g., a show wager vs. a trifecta wager), in part, by the size of the pool as defined by the total amount of wagers placed for a given event and, in part, the specific wagers made by other bettors. Thus, for example, if a defined prize pool is to be paid out to those wagers that selected runner X as the winner and, for example, 20 individual wagers were placed on runner X to win, the prize pool will be divided among those 20 bettors in proportion to the amount each of the 20 individual bettors wagered on such an outcome.
Pari-mutuel wagering is preferred by some individuals because a wager may be “handicapped” in the sense that a bettor may study different facets of an event to make an educated prediction of the outcome of the event prior to placing their wager. For example, in a horse race, a bettor may review the past performances of the horses, the training histories of the horses, the breeding histories of the horses, which jockeys will be participating and other related information. Consideration of such information enables a bettor to make a more educated prediction regarding the outcome of a race or other event.
Many individuals prefer other types of wagering activities, such as slot machines, purchasing of lottery tickets or other conventional wagering activities offered at a casino or a lottery facility, because they find the act of handicapping a pari-mutuel wager to be complex, difficult and time consuming. Furthermore, often there is a significant period of time between races at racing facilities. Several minutes may pass between the time an individual places a wager on a race and the outcome of the wager is made known. Such is in contrast to casino wagering wherein multiple wagers may be placed and the outcome of each be made known in rapid succession such as with slot machines.
There have been various attempts by pari-mutuel venues to attract the individuals that are more inclined to participate in simpler wagering activities. For example, random wagers, sometimes referred to as “quick picks,” have been offered at pari-mutuel venues to satisfy those patrons that prefer simpler wagering activities. Such a random wager may include an appropriately configured wagering terminal that is configured to randomly choose the outcome of the event (e.g., the winning runner of a race) on which the bettor places his or her wager. These wagers are added to the pool of wagers or, in other words, commingled with handicapped wagers that have been placed in regards to the same event. However, those individuals that are placing random wagers, such as a quick-pick type wager, may feel disadvantaged by the fact that other bettors are handicapping their wagers and, therefore, that such other bettors may have a better chance at winning a portion of the wagering pool.
Other attempts to attract new patrons, including those who may not be comfortable in handicapped-style wagering, include, for example, those set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,307 issued to Krause et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,152,822 issued to Herbert.
The Krause et al. patent generally describes a method of incorporating casino game attributes with a pari-mutuel wagering activity. For example, a black jack-style game may be played wherein a bettor wagers on whether the sum of the numbers assigned to the first four runners to finish a race will be closer to 21, without going over, than will the sum of the numbers assigned to the last four runners to finish the race. It is noted that such a scheme is still amenable to a bettor handicapping his or her wager. However, it is believed that incorporation of familiar casino or sports betting themes will entice new patrons to frequent pari-mutuel venues.
The Herbert patent generally describes a method of wagering that includes an activity occurring subsequent to at least one pari-mutuel event and that utilizes the outcome of the one or more pari-mutuel events as a “wagering base” for a slot machine type wagering activity. For example, the win, show, exacta and perfecta results of one or more races are selected to comprise the “wagering” base or, in other words, act as the possible outcomes of a slot machine format wagering activity. The odds that were associated with the selected outcomes of the pari-mutuel wagers (win, show, etc.) may be programmed into an appropriate wagering device or system such that, for example, if the odds of a selected perfecta wager (from a previously run race) were 24 to 1 (i.e., a probability of 0.04), the same probability will be assigned to the selected perfecta wager as a potential outcome of the slot machine-style wagering activity. Outcomes from multiple pari-mutuel events or races may be used to build the wagering base and the actual outcome of a “spin” of the slot machine wagering activity is determined by a random number generator based on the probabilities assigned to the various potential outcomes drawn from the wagering base. It is again noted that the slot machine wagering activity is conducted separately from the pari-mutuel events.
Even with schemes such as described in the above-referenced Krause et al., and Herbert patents, other aspects of pari-mutuel wagering stand in need of improvement. For example, an important factor in attracting patron interest is the size of the probable jackpot that a patron can expect to win. Thus, it is desirable to provide relatively large jackpots and to provide relative predictability in providing such jackpots. However, in conventional pari-mutuel wagering activities, the jackpot is inversely related to the ability of the bettor population to predict the outcome of a given event or series of events. Because the predictability of events varies considerably from one event to another, a pari-mutuel venue has little control over the jackpots offered in association with such events.
In view of the shortcomings in the art, it would be advantageous to provide a method of pari-mutuel wagering that is attractive to a wide variety of patrons, that provides for increased jackpots and provides greater predictability in providing such jackpots. It would also be advantageous to provide a method of placing a pari-mutuel wager with a simplified prediction process such that a given bettor did not perceive a distinct disadvantage relative to another bettor who was relatively accomplished at handicapping wagers.